Category Archives: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Hair Multiplication, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Nie Hemin, Wang Xusheng

More new Hair Multiplication Projects in China

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After the very encouraging recent news about China-based Yunce Medical’s progress in hair multiplication, I have yet more new positive developments to report on from China.

Wang Xusheng Hair Multiplication iPSC
Dr. Wang Xusheng presenting on his team’s success at hair multiplication via induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

Dr. Wang Xusheng: Cultivation of iPSC Derived Hair Follicles

At the “Boao Cell Therapy Transformation and Application Conference” in April 2025, Professor Wang Xusheng from the hair follicle research laboratory of Sun Yat-sen University announced a breakthrough. He said that his research team has successfully cultured induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived hair follicles into large hair follicles (length of over 5 cm) that can be used for hair transplantation.

Per “Theo”, their technology is able to produce in vitro large human hair follicles (over 5 cm in length) from hiPSCs in a worldwide first. Their photo evidence of the large human hair follicles created from hiPSCs looks natural. According to the above linked article, the hair transplant industry standard is that only hair follicles with a length of more than 5 cm (from the back of the head, beard and chest) can be transplanted to treat hair loss. I was not aware of this till now. So the creation of 5 cm and longer hair via iPSCs is a big deal.

The team has also:

“Realized a complete culture technology system from somatic cells to human hair follicles. This lays the foundation for the in vitro regeneration of autologous hair follicles in patients with hair loss.”

Dr. Xusheng’s team is now working with hospitals to begin clinical trials of in vitro hair follicle regeneration. Technical details of their recent findings on hair multiplication will be published in professional academic journals in the near future.

Note that Dr. Xusheng is an established hair loss researcher who has published numerous hair growth related studies in western publications. One of his most cited works from 2017 is in relation to the mechanism behind hair follicle neogenesis after wounding. His most recent co-authored paper from March 2025 is titled: “Direct reprogramming of human fibroblasts into hair-inducing dermal papilla cell-like cells by a single small molecule.”

Hair Multiplication Partnership: Dr. Xusheng and Yinguan Biotechnology

Professor Xusheng is planning to start hair multiplication related clinical trials in partnership with Yinguan Biotechnology. The work will take place at Jiangmen Central Hospital per an April 2025 cell clinical research related article. In there, it has the following quote:

“Professor Wang Xusheng took the field of hair regeneration as the starting point and elaborated on the technical process of cultivating hair follicles with stem cells, clinical application exploration, and industrialization results. He presented the current status and prospects of industrial development in this field to the participants.”

Dr. Nie Hemin: Artificial Hair Follicle Creation and Hair Regeneration

In November 2024, a Chinese hair loss researcher named Dr. Nie Hemin got his artificial hair follicle creation related patent approved. Dr. Hemin’s team created artificial hair follicles by mixing dermal papilla cells (DPCs) and hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs), and then culturing them in vitro. The in vitro construction method entails mixing DPCs and HFSCs in a quantitative ratio of 0.1:1 to 10:1. The resulting artificial hair follicle organ has a controllable size and complete structure that can be used in vivo hair follicle transplantation.

Note that the use of the word “artificial” in the patent is a bit confusing and could be a result of original translation issues. This invention is nothing related to what we know as “artificial hair implants“, also called “synthetic hair implants”.

Dr. Hemin was educated at Singapore University graduate and Columbia University. His list of studies can be found here. His artificial hair follicle creation related invention earned him a Chinese government award in 2022.

“Theo” also sent me an April 2024 Hunan Province related article in which you can find the below quote:

“Hunan University has brought the “Artificial Hair Follicles and Hair Regeneration” project, which achieves in vitro cloning of human hair follicles through three technical links: multi-source acquisition of human hair follicle-related stem cells; large-scale expansion; and in vitro construction of human hair follicle organoids, to solve the problem of insufficient number of transplantable hair follicles.”

Update from “Theo”:
Dr. Sun Yun, a Hunan University graduate, is part of the Nie Hemin lab research team, and co-author of several patents with Nie Hemin. He participated in the Hunan Province Talent Show for young scientists and graduate students and gave a presentation about their artificial hair follicles technology. The winner of this competition will receive major funding for their projects.

I spent one hour to compress the video and translate its contents a little bit. From what I did translate, they can produce from 1-100 artificial hair follicles that will grown like normal human hairs. They wanna raise 1 million dollars to build a proper R&D factory and start clinical trials. If one of your viewers knows Chinese or has a good AI app, he/she can try to make a more accurate translation. His presentation starts after 1:07:30 in the below video:

Another update is that they have applied for Hunan Province’s start-up company funding/grants facility recently.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Yunce Medical

Yunce Medical: Curing Hair Loss with iPSCs

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Since starting this blog in 2013, I have always wondered why China is so under-represented in hair loss research and the development of new hair loss treatments. Especially in comparison to the US, South Korea and Japan. While Chinese hair loss research did improve significantly in the last few years, hair multiplication related developments remained elusive. But finally, this has all changed due to the entry of Yunce Medical (also known as Yunce Biotech).

Yunce Medical: Treating Androgenetic Alopecia with iPSC-derived Hair Follicle Cells

Reader “Theo” sent me two interesting links in the past week related to:

  • An August 2024 speech by Yunce Medical’s founder and chairman Liu Shaoxian. It was titled:

“Progress in the Treatment of Androgenic Alopecia with Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Hair Follicle Cells.”

Yunce Medical is developing this technology in partnership with West China Hospital of Sichuan University. The research team has successfully differentiated hair follicle cells from iPSCs and “verified the success in animal experiments”.

But the most interesting quote from the first speech (after translation) was:

“This research result is almost synchronized with the research progress of Stemson”.

He is of course referring to Stemson Therapeutics, the biggest US-based hope for a hair loss cure that alas folded in December 2024.

The above first speech was made at the “2024 Tianfu Bio-pharmaceutical Industry Development and Cooperation Conference” hosted by the Chengdu Hi-tech Zone Bio-Industry Federation. Per the article, Chengdu has emerged as a key center of the Chinese bio-pharmaceutical industry cluster. The second newer speech was made in Beijing at the 9th Immunogenetic and Cellular Therapy Conference (IGC 2025).

As if this was not enough, “Theo” sent me another link that is even more encouraging:

“Judging from the reported data, the company’s research progress is almost synchronized with that of STEMSON, or even better, representing China’s successful first step in the field of hair regeneration.”

In the article, they also gave the below before and after image:

hiPSCs Hair Growth from Yunce Medical
Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and hair growth. Yunce Medical (China).

Yunce Medical’s scientists obtained more than 90% of hair follicle stem cells with CD200 positive cells. This supposedly far exceeds the 30% results in known published literature. CD200 is a key marker for hair follicle stem cell activation, and CD200 positive hair follicle stem cells are the main cell type missing in the balding arras of scalps.

On Yunce Medical’s website, I like that they specify “human” induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) rather than just iPSCs. The company’s hair loss platform is called YCH001.

Clinical Trials

In an announcement in September 2024, Yunce Medical said they were about to start human clinical trials. They had already successfully cultivated hair follicle stem cells from induced pluripotent stem cells in animal experiments. Key quote from Liu Shiaoxian:

“We are the second company in the world and the first company in China to successfully induce iDP (iPSC-derived dermal papilla cells) and iHFSC (iPSC-derived hair follicle stem cells).”

The company also has a gene editing sector and various other regenerative medicine related technologies listed on its website.

Also of interest, in March 2025, Mr. Shaoxian gave yet another speech at the 3rd Bio-Innovative Drug Industry Conference in Suzhou. He mentioned the company’s focus on the research and development of hiPSC-derived cell drugs for the treatment of male pattern baldness, solid cancerous tumors and autoimmune diseases.

Note that there are numerous news articles from China that suggest that the rate of hair loss is increasing rapidly in both young males and females in the country. This technology will have tens of millions of takers in the world’s second most populous nation, assuming the price is reasonable.

China to lead the world in Gene Editing and Cell Therapy?

In spite of residing in the US, I am hoping that China surpasses the US in rapid biotech progress. Per a new article in the New York Post this week:

“China has embraced CRISPR gene editing, leapfrogged the West in cell therapy, developed sophisticated animal models and rapidly expanded its biotech exports from near-zero in 2016 to nearly 30% of new assets in the world today.”

One of the suggestions the author of this article gives to the US FDA is to speed up clinical trials in order to be able to compete with China and others in the biotech space.

Perhaps George Costanza was correct about looking towards China for a hair loss treatment after all?